‘Lost’ Continent Discovered Beneath Indian Ocean

Hidden beneath the brilliant blue waters of the Indian Ocean lies a secret, scientists say: an entire micro-continent that detached itself some 60 million years ago.

And they found it through a few handfuls of sand.

The islands Reunion and Mauritius, both well-known tourist destinations off the south-eastern coast of Africa, are hiding the micro-continent, a fragment known as Mauritia that detached while Madagascar and India drifted apart during the Precambrian era, scientists said.